Tag Archives: cucumber

Everything about life has been on vacation mode until this week. We have been slow to rise, late to bed, seeing the world, tasting the world, beach time, pool time, splash time, snuggle time, books, and baking. Recently we have been spending a lot of time in our new garden, tending to our seedlings, but mostly just watering and staring at our plants. We have been pruning our herb garden in hopes of bigger, thicker bushes…and I am hoping “green thumbing” runs in the blood. My father is a plant whisperer. I have many memories of walking through my hometown woods with my father as a kid. He pointed to plants and gave me both their botanical and common names, taught me how to identify poison oak in all four seasons, and explained the differences between lichen and moss. We have beautiful oak trees dripping in Spanish Moss (which is neither a moss nor a lichen) of an almost earthy teal if that makes any sense, and a salty fog that feels like home in those woods. So…I am hoping that gardening, like cooking, and be heritable. Happy bleated father’s day dad, I love you so.

This salad is dressed with the herbs from our garden, and I will hopefully make it again with our own peppers and cucumbers. It is super easy to make and tastes like summer. I might add this tastes super with a cold, Mexican beer out of the bottle.

Crispy flatbread is the new black. I am convinced. It is so versatile, so chic, and just screams delicious. You can doll it up with seasonal herbs, eat it plain or with a little hummus, make crispy pizzettes, or top it with a lovely, summer salad. It has been incredibly hot and humid here, and nothing sounds better than a crisp, cold, crunchy salad, especially with cucumbers and fresh herbs straight from the garden. If you feel so inspired, and the grill is going, brush the grill with a little oil and throw the flatbread directly on the grill. I also grill the tomatoes as well with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fried egg and herb salad on crispy flatbread…

flatbread:

1 ¾ cup flour

1 tbs fresh tarragon, minced

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup water

1/3 cup olive oil

fleur de sel (for a topping, if you are feeling fancy), Kosher salt is lovely too

cracked pepper

Oven at 450. Mix together dry ingredients and herbs. Then add wet. Mix until dough forms into a ball. Break dough into 3-4 parts. Roll each flat. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with fleur de sel, cracked pepper and fresh herbs. Place on a heavy baking sheet and then in the oven, or you can use a preheated pizza stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy. Or, you can just throw the rolled dough straight onto the grill.

salad:

couple hand fulls of baby greens

some chopped radicchio and endive

1 small cucumber cut on bias (peeled if from the store)

fresh chives

1 egg per salad

4-5 roasted garlic cloves

olive oil, enough to lightly coat the salad

salt and pepper

wedge of summer tomato with each salad (raw or grilled)

To roast garlic, cover cloves in olive oil, and wrap in foil, broil until browned and soft. Mix together olive oil and roasted garlic cloves in the bottom of a large bowl. Making sure to smash the garlic until mostly incorporated into oil. Add salt and pepper. Toss together baby greens, radicchio, endive, and fresh herbs on top of oil and garlic until leaves are evenly coated. Fry egg, over-easy/medium in olive oil. Top flatbread with salad and egg on top.